Learn how to throw a hot pot dinner at home with this ingredient list!
Prep time: PT120M
Total time: PT120M
Rating
5 stars (4 reviews)
Keywords
dinner party
Ingredients
homemade hot pot broth (or premade packaged)
beef (brisket, short rib, top blade, eye round, beef tongue, or ribeye)
pork (pork belly, pork shoulder, pork collar, or pork butt)
lamb (leg or shoulder)
chicken (chicken thighs or breast)
fish (salmon, salmon skin, halibut, seabass, tilapia, or bass)
cuttlefish
scallops
shrimp
clams and mussels
meatballs (fish, beef, shrimp, or pork)
fish cakes
fresh tofu (firm or extra firm)
fried tofu
tofu sheets or skin
fried beancurd rolls
rice
udon (frozen)
egg noodles (fresh)
shirataki noodles
rice cakes slices
ramen noodles
rice noodles
Chinese spinach
baby bok choy
Napa cabbage
chrysanthemum leaves
watercress
pea tips
lotus root
kabocha
daikon radish
green onions
bean sprouts
broccoli
bamboo shoots
Chinese long green beans
enoki mushrooms
shiitake mushrooms
oyster mushrooms
king mushrooms
shimeji mushrooms
cremini mushrooms
dried wood ear mushrooms
Goma
sesame sauce/paste (not tahini!)
soy sauce (light soy sauce, dark soy sauce)
ponzu
black vinegar
fish sauce
rice vinegar
oyster sauce
hoisin
roasted sesame oil
roasted sesame seeds
chopped cilantro
thinly sliced scallions
fried garlic
fried shallots
chili oil
chili garlic crunchy
Sambal
minced garlic
sliced Thai peppers
Categories
Dinner
Lunch
Main Course
Cuisine
Asian
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Steps
Talk to your guests about their hot pot preferences and how much they think they will eat.
Create a food list and grocery shop.
Prep the ingredients and dipping sauce station as suggested above.
Gather all hot pot equipment and set up the dining table.
Make the hot pot broth or use a premade soup base and add enough broth until it reaches 2 inches from the top of the pot.
Bring the broth to a simmer in the hot pot over the burner with the lid on.
Have guests make their dipping sauces and add rice to their bowls.
Start adding ingredients to the hot pot. Once you add an ample amount of ingredients for one round of eating, wait for the food to cook. Before adding more food, wait for the heat to come back to a simmer, and don’t overfill the pot. (see above for cooking times)
After about 30-45 minutes of eating, you may need to refill the broth. If you still want to continue eating hot pot, pour some hot water into the broth. Add the lid so it comes back to simmer before adding more ingredients. If your guests want to eat noodles with concentrated broth, add your preferred noodles and cook.
When finished eating, discard all the cooked broth (including ingredients in the broth you don’t want to eat). Store all the uneaten vegetables, tofu, and carbs in food storage containers in the fridge. Store the leftover meat and seafood in individual containers in the fridge. Cook all of these ingredients within 3 days.
Reviews
SP on 2026-02-14 (5 stars): This seems like a great guide for those new to hot pot or want to do it at home. It definitely helped with organizing the prep and planning hot pot for hosting. Thank you!
Hadee Makda on 2025-08-18 (5 stars): Great and comprehensive article! I was lucky that 4 years ago my ex-roommate from Chongqing gave me a masterclass on how to host a hot pot party. The beauty of hot pot is that it can be whatever you and your guests want i.e. which meats, veggies, tofu, mushrooms you get from the store. Some other tips for my Muslim friends who want to do this with halal meat/ingredients:
- in my US city, our Lotte (competitor of H-Mart) has sliced frozen halal lamb ready for hot pot. Lamb is a popular meat for hot pot, according to my roommate, I think especially among Hui Muslims in China.
- you can pop a beef shoulder or other large cut in the freezer for a couple hours to cut it into thin sheets like the non-halal versions found at the market. Or ask the butcher and show them a photo on your phone how you want the meat cut. Some butchers won't do it because they don't have the equipment.
- read the ingredients on the back of the hot pot soup base/dehydrated brick. Some of them will have beef tallow but a lot of brands don't include meat products in their bases. I gravitate to Little Sheep, Hadilao, and Lee Kum Kee brand bases
- (this has nothing to do with being Muslim, just wanted to plug my fav ingredients): highly recommend dried tofu skins, frozen/refrigerated (not dried) udon noodles, enoki mushrooms, wood ear fungus
Hope this helps! :)
Bianca on 2025-01-29 (5 stars): This was SO helpful! Thank you!
Bianca Fernandez on 2025-01-29 (5 stars): Love this!
Hosting my first hot pot party this Friday and your writeup helped me make a definitive list of things to buy. Thank you so much! :)
